Southern Mutual Financial Services

We make a difference in the lives of rural Louisiana residents!

A story of hope...

Recently, a home loan was refinanced for a 61 year old single, African American female. SMFS helped this very low-income grandmother save her home when she, like many poor people in SMFS' target market, had been taken advantage of by people who were supposed to be helping her, and had nowhere else to turn. She suffered a stroke, rendering her unable to continue to work, and she filed Chapter 13 bankruptcy in 1995 when she was unable to make her mortgage payments. She made monthly payments of $219 to the bankruptcy trustees for four years, until she learned in 1999 that the trustees had made no payments toward her debt since her bankruptcy. After 27 years of payment, her original $18,000 mortgage loan had an outstanding balance of $18,714 and the lender had begun foreclosure procedures. Although she had no outstanding debt aside from her mortgage and had documented income for repayment, no conventional lender would assist her despite her otherwise excellent credit.

Families in Southern Mutual Financial Services, Inc.’s (SMFS’s) nine-parish (county) Investment Area are poor.

They live in the poorest state in America. They pay too much in rent and for the money they borrow. They are struggling to overcome the plantation ownership mentality that pervades South Louisiana. They have lost hope.

Nearly 40 percent of the population in Southern Mutual Financial Service’s Investment Area lives in poverty. Over one-third of renters in the nine parishes pay over 30 percent of their income in rent. Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) reporting data shows that low-income families, women, and people of color are denied mortgage loans at a disproportionately high rate. Families in SMFS’ market have limited access to affordable finance, and must turn to subprime and predatory lenders for their financing needs.

The need is real.
The demand is high.

With your help, Southern Mutual Financial Services can make a significant difference in bridging rural, gender, race, and income gaps in the nine parish Investment Area in the deep South.



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